Archeology as a word, and as an activity, has
a definite meaning to every one. It calls up a vision of exciting
adventures in desert wastes, or tangled jungle growths, adventures which
but only prelude the triumphal, thrill of discovering a huge ruined
city, littered with golden debris and dotted with tombs containing
fantastic baubles. Many people have also become aware of the equally
informative, if less glittering, "dirt" archeology now going on in
eastern North America, Possibly because romance usually lies across
international boundaries, the sweaty diggers in the United States are
rarely glamorous figures, nor do their mild adventures rate Sunday
supplement space. Plodding along without benefit of such stimulus, the
archeologists of the South are steadily building up a composite picture
of the pre-European Indian populations of America.

As is true in all scientific endeavor, many men labor
here toward a common aim. The ultimate story is the sum of their
contributions. In the past decade governmental agencies, cooperating
with other public institutions, have conducted in the South some of the
world's most extensive excavations. Major W. S. Webb's TVA-PWA
explorations in the valley of the Tennessee; J. A. Ford's Louisiana
State University-WPA work in Louisiana; A. R. Kelly's Smithsonian-WPA
activities in Macon, Georgia; D. L. DeJarnette's Geological Survey in
Alabama in cooperation with Major Webb; Robert Wauchope's University of
Georgia-WPA reconnaissance in North Georgia; Major Webb's University of
Kentucky-WPA work in Kentucky; T. M. N. Lewis' University of
Tennessee-TVA-WPA work, first in association with Major Webb, and later
alone, in East and West Tennessee --- these comprise a list of the major
continuing archeological undertakings financed largely by the relief
organizations. Besides these, many other valuable projects, albeit of
shorter duration, were financed in North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida,
Georgia, and other states. There is little wonder, therefore, that much
information is now available, although even yet so little is the
Southeast known that after nearly every excavation small segments of the
entire prehistoric mosaic shift and rearrange their relation to the
whole pattern.

Stippled portions show roughly the areas which have been explored
archeologically(click image for an enlargement in a new window)

Interestingly enough, little of the interest shown by
students is localized in the State of Mississippi. More than 300 miles
of the Natchez Trace lie in Mississippi in the northeast-southwest
line1 shown on the accompanying map. Almost unknown
archeologically is the area it cuts across. At its southern terminus, J.
A. Ford2 and Moreau B. Chambers3 have done good
work, but for the major length almost nothing is published. Realization
of the near lack of information, although rich unstudied remains were
known to exist, prompted the initiation in 1939 of a Natchez Trace
National Parkway archeological survey which would be concerned not only
with Mississippi but also with the entire length of the Trace.

While the purposes and needs guiding the operation of
the Trace survey are implicit in the foregoing paragraphs, and there is
the ultimate aim of contributing a few paragraphs to the final outline
of pre-European Indian history, the immediate aims are definite and
urgent. Five major objectives have been outlined, although the first
three listed are of the more urgent nature,

First, comes the search for sites for purposes of
parkway location and for compilation of the base historic sheet. This
first activity is, in addition, an important archeological technique,
inasmuch as a rapid surface reconnaissance permits the collection of
surface material, where this exists, and gives a partial preview of the
cultural horizons represented by the content of the sites visited.

Second, upon the completion of the preliminary
analysis of survey collections and other data, sites of potential
scientific value or of outstanding intrinsic display appeal, are
recommended for preservation either through acquisition as parkway
right-of-way or by other public agencies. Action has not yet been taken
on the recommendations submitted.

Third, aside from the sites eventually acquired, many
other sites discovered by the survey will lie too far from the motor
road for acquisition, or may not be spectacular, even though there is
evidence from surface material that several cultures, or a new variant
of one already recognized, once existed on the site. In order to verify
the suggestions derived from surface material or to check on the
scientific value implied, it is necessary to conduct digging operations
in varying degrees of intensity. The excavation program is primarily for
the purpose of filling out the blanks in the archeological framework
through the addition of new scientific data.

Fourth, if excavations are conducted on
federally-owned Natchez Trace Parkway lands, any features of interest,
such as a well-preserved burial, a firepit, a house-pattern, or other
object which can be preserved or restored, should be dug carefully so as
to preserve it entirely and protect it until a field display can be made
available to users of the Trace.

Fifth, the last point is allied closely to the
preceding in that the survey is in the larger view collecting data for
use in the informational program of the parkway. It is further hoped
that contributions to the general knowledge can thus be made.

Already referred to is Mr. Gardner's lucid account of
the Natchez Trace and its early history. The account tells how the Trace
came into being: as a prehistoric highway, no less. Its purpose was to
link tribal centers for commercial and social reasons. In Mississippi
alone three such tribes, similar in language, but with differing habits
of living, were connected by the trail.

In the South, the autocratic Natchez, famous for
their bloody funeral sacrifices, their rigid caste system, their austere
sun-worshipping religion, and their stubborn resistance to French
insolence, enjoyed the respect and fear of their red neighbors. East and
north of the Natchez tribe lived the Choctaw, related in language but
with a less noteworthy set of religious and ceremonial practices. Burial
rites, though involving less bloodshed, were still not calculated to
soothe a queasy stomach. The corpse was stored upon a rack or scaffold
until the passage of time had removed most of the flesh from the bones.
Next a pair of specially designated operatives, with long fingernails
for the purpose, cleaned the vestiges of flesh from the bones, and
placed then, with appropriate ceremony, in a charnel house where other
baskets of bones lay. When an adequate number had accumulated, all were
stacked in a selected spot, and were covered with a low mound of
earth.

In other respects we are told that the Choctaw were
not much given to ceremony. Very industrious, these Indians were the
best farmers of the Southeast, growing corn and other products in excess
of their needs, and diverting their surplus into trade. The Choctaw were
good warriors although not given to aggression; they defended their
homeland but did not seek to expand their territory by conquest. But in
northwest Mississippi the gallant Chickasaw, a small hardy tribe of
excellent warriors, were respected as fighters by red and white alike.
Although farmers, they also ranged as far north as the Duck River in
Tennessee on hunting and war expeditions. They also kept up an
intermittent feud with the French and Choctaw to the south; the tribe
was always friendly to both British and American overtures. Several
interesting ceremonies were practiced but burial was accomplished
quietly by placing the deceased with fitting solemnities, in a shallow
pit beneath his bed.

From the Chickasaw country the Trace led over the
Tennessee River (in what is now Alabama) and on along the ridges of
central Tennessee to and beyond what is now Nashville. Part of this
territory was claimed as a hunting preserve by the far-ranging Chickasaw
and part by the Cherokee of North Carolina and East Tennessee, but no
extensive long-lived settlements are reported.

So much for the recent Indian occupation, recorded by
early explorers, missionaries, traders, and government officials. Before
the Europeans saw the country, however, a long series of Indian
civilizations had appeared, flowered and been displaced by more vigorous
newcomers. What many of these early cultures were like is already partly
known. The Natchez, for example, were preceded by four well-defined
cultures which have been discovered and described by Ford and his
associates. A related series, but by no means identical, has been less
completely observed beneath the Choctaw remains. Before the Chickasaw
came to the place where they were discovered by the whites, one or more
vaguely outlined periods had already run their course, while in the
Tennessee Valley a long series of occupations go back 1,000 or more
years to a time when the red men did not even possess knowledge of
pottery making or agriculture, but lived on such animals, shell fish,
and wild vegetable foods as they could collect. No evidence as to their
language or many of their customs has come down to the present day. Nor
is it certain just what relation these earlier tribes were to the last
ones in the region. In some cases the ages of the various periods and
the interrelation of the tribes (those on the Tennessee River to those
on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, for example) are not yet
known.

The scientific problems therefore, are to gather data
along portions of the Trace where least exploration has been done, to
search for relationships between the archeologically discovered old
cultures and the historically described recent tribes, and to continue
to search for light on the relationship to each other of the old,
incompletely known civilizations and for data about their actual
ages.

Because the Natchez Trace cuts across tribal boundary
lines, the range of archeological interest is necessarily greatly
widened. In order to tell the complete story, it will be obligatory to
borrow data from many sources and attempt to synthesize it with any
original findings reported by the survey.

Since the scope of the effort is so ramified, a
random controlled sampling of the sites along the roadway is being
practiced rather than an immediate attempt to locate each site in the
vicinity of 450 miles of parkway. This is done so that an early
delineation of scientific problems may be made, and the direction where
answers might be expected can be indicated. The map shows the path of
the Trace and the areas sampled by the survey thus far. A report of the
survey activities has been prepared and is now ready for a limited
National Park Service distribution.4 This report shows that
additional research on the problems mentioned two paragraphs above will
take certain directions. It also demonstrates that a beginning was made
toward determining the predecessors of the Chickasaw.

Enough data have been recovered to warrant initiation
of an excavation program. This began only recently on a Chickasaw site
just south of Tupelo, Mississippi. Already the finds are expanding our
knowledge of this enigmatic tribe. While the party is operating in this
region, some of the very old sites will be sampled also. With the birds,
the excavation party will go south, and after January 1, 1941,
operations will be in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi, where the
Natchez Indian villages and older sites will be examined. Periodic notes
on progress of the excavation will be forwarded to The Regional Review
during the coming months.